Building a tribute to local rail transportation

May 15, 2010|Christine GwidtSaturday staff writer

Ernie Mainland doffs his cap to one of the two remaining trains still servicing the area. This train transports carloads of plastic pellets for use at Petoskey Plastics, while the other delivers propane.

Ernie Mainland has paper-white hair, unequivocal blue eyes and the energy of an undergrad.

In his office on the fourth floor of the Petoskey Zip Building, he unrolls a chart detailing the arrangement of railroad tracks in Petoskey, circa 1902. Mainland’s goal is to design a 1/87th-scale model of the rail system that cuts through Petoskey.

“I want to know if there are people in the community with the various skill sets to create a model of the tracks and the adjacent buildings on a given year,” he said. “Not necessarily 1902 — it could be 1925 or 1932. We’re going to pick a year and do our best to be honest to that year.”

It’s an ambitious undertaking, but Mainland is optimistic. He has already recruited several volunteers who have pledged to contribute their time and talents to the project. He envisions the model as a tribute to the past and a legacy to the future — a faithful recreation of the way things were.

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“Trains brought passengers and freight to this area,” Mainland said. “This building was originally a wholesale grocery. They uploaded from the tracks that ran right up to the building. The Flatiron Deli was also parallel to the street and parallel to the tracks. That’s why the town has triangular-shaped buildings,” he added. “This town was built because of water and rail transportation. That’s what made it possible for people to come and go.”

Mainland’s interest in building a model railroad began on a much smaller scale.

“My grandsons got me thinking about it,” he said. “I bought them a little train set a few years ago at Christmas. They just wanted a dinky train to go around the Christmas tree, but that got me going. One thing just led to another and I became addicted.”

Phase one of the model would take an estimated two to three years to complete, encompassing the tracks from Rose to Fulton Streets and expanding from there.

“The neat thing about working to recreate a railroad is that the physical evidence is still here,” Mainland said. “It’s hard to remove.”

He envisions the project as open-ended, with the option to continue adding to the territory over the years.

“Eventually I’d like to add the Walloon Lake Y, because of the connection to Hemingway,” he said. “There’s no question about it. We beat his drum, so let’s put his train track in.”

Mainland’s familial relationship to the writer is physically obvious. (“It would be stronger if I had a beard,” he said, grinning.) He has a vague memory of meeting his famous uncle as a 9-year-old, during a trip to Havana with his mother.

“When the Hemingways came up here, they took the boat from Chicago to Harbor Springs, and then took the train to Petoskey,” Mainland said. “In Petoskey they changed to the summer station and that train backed out and then came forward down to the Walloon Lake Y.”

The Y-shaped track culminated at the lakeshore in the village of Walloon.

“If we get ambitious — and ambitious also means money — we can start to add all of the spurs. For instance, see this spur?” He indicated a mark splintering from the main line on the map. “This goes to Preston Feather and was used as late as the 1960s.”

Mainland plans to construct the project in modular sections, for portability and to facilitate crafting the pieces.

“Each piece of the build will be about 30 inches wide by 6- to 8-feet long,” he said. “You’ll take home section 15 and recruit some people to work on your section. Every now and then, we’ll all come back to this big free space that somebody’s got open that week, and put your section 15 between 14 and 16, and make sure that everything is coming together.”

The acquisition of a gratis facility to assemble the work is, according to Mainland, “One of my problems. I have a lot of problems to solve. I need investors, just like a real railroad.”

Since the pieces would only be assembled periodically during the build, Mainland maintains that the need for the facility would be brief.

“I need someone to donate a space to put the layout together for a very short time, and then we’re gone,” he said. “So if someone had a vacant place that they were trying to rent or sell and they’d let us use it, we’d certainly appreciate it.”

Envisioned as an attraction in commercial, festival and educational venues, Ernie Mainland’s plan to construct a model railroad relies upon interested local crafters and professionals.

“This is a long-term project,” Mainland said. “If it gets started, it’s going to outlive me. Logically, the city or the historical society would be the ultimate guardians. Lots of people with very diverse skills can be a part of it.”

To participate or for more information, e-mail erniemainland@chartermi.net.

There is a need for:

Investors and fundraisers

A large venue for assembling the project

A lawyer to draw up documents and apply for 501(c)3 nonprofit status

Cartographers

Architects

Electricians

Carpenters

Model railroaders

Artists

Marketers

Researchers, archivists, and historians

Ernie Mainland doffs his cap to one of the two remaining trains still servicing the area. This train transports carloads of plastic pellets for use at Petoskey Plastics, while the other delivers propane.